Shell Partners With Battery-Swapping Scooter Company, Wants Better Last-Mile Service

Battery-swapping infrastructure could very well be the key to beating range anxiety, at least in the urban setting. And no other company knows battery swapping quite like Gogoro.

The Taiwanese company pretty much pioneered this technology and is spreading all across the globe, as its innovative tech makes electric mobility sustainable within the confines of the urban jungle, allowing users to swap out depleted batteries in a matter of seconds—even faster than filling up at the pumps. And so it’s clear that Gogoro’s tech is in line with lots of cities’ goals of greener mobility.

Gogoro also has a knack for teaming up with big mobility players in respective markets to help boost its reach. In Singapore, for example, Gogoro has teamed up with none other than Shell Recharge to launch battery swapping stations at Shell stations across the country.

Singapore is very small, so it’s entirely possible to explore the entire country in less than a day. In fact, I was able to cycle around the entire city with relative ease a couple of years ago. And so, electric mobility solutions like those of Gogoro simply make sense here—especially for the thriving last-mile delivery sector.

Horace Luke, founder and CEO of Gogoro explained how the company has been working with key last-mile delivery players in laying down the groundwork for Gogoro’s success. “Gogoro, Cycle & Carriage, and Foodpanda have been participating in a pilot that has demonstrated incredible success, and we look forward to transitioning to commercial operations soon. We are looking forward to providing a seamless path for riders to adopt sustainable electric transportation in Singapore.”

As someone who relies heavily on last-mile delivery services such as Grab and Foodpanda myself, it’s easy for me to see just how important Gogoro’s expansion into Singapore is. The urban jungle is extremely fast-paced, with folks not necessarily having the time of day to step out of their offices to grab lunch or coffee. And so you could say that the last-mile delivery industry is a major contributor to the economy.

And because Gogoro has such a tried and tested battery swapping network, it’s pretty much cut and dry for markets to embrace the technology, especially in Singapore, where it’s partnering with Shell, one of the most popular mobility and petroleum suppliers.

At present, Gogoro has by far the most expansive battery-swapping infrastructure in the world. The company says that more than 400,000 battery swaps occur on a daily basis, and as of 2024, there have been more than 600 million battery swaps.

Over in its home country of Taiwan, more than 25 percent of last-mile deliveries are fulfilled using Gogoro Smartscooters. It'd be interesting to see if other major metro areas could harness this technology, too.